4-Step Computer Security Upgrade

The web is huge. And the barriers to entry to enter the online publishing market continue to erode. Which means that just about anyone with an internet connection can publish “stuff” online. And so, it’s no surprise that there is a lot of unreliable information on the web.
And the only thing worse than bad information is bad information that is widely disseminated and relied upon.

So before you click publish, tweet, like or share, spend some time vetting the information and its source.

Identifying Reliable Sources

One of the best ways to begin identifying reliable online sources is to look to reliable offline sources. When you’re researching a topic which experts come to mind? Are there organizations or institutions that you have come to trust? Do they have a presence online?

If reproduced information (from another source), is it complete, not altered, not fake or forged?

Are there links to other resources on the topic?

What do others say?

Who links to the page?

Is the page listed in one or more reputable directories or pages?

What do others say about the author or responsible authoring body?

Why was the page put on the web?

Might it be ironic? Satire or parody?

Is this as credible and useful as the resources (books, journal articles, etc.) available in print or online through the library?

Whether it’s a comment, tweet, blog post or article, if it’s difficult to tell who the author is, your skepticism level should be on high alert. But just because the author is named doesn’t make the information reliable. Who is this author? What is their background? Why did they publish the page? What is their agenda? What do other reliable people say about this author?

If you can’t answer these questions, perhaps you should refrain from spreading their message.

Advanced Search

Beyond exercising skepticism, there are some advanced search techniques that you can use to help you filter more reliable information. One of my favorites is the site-specific search.

For example, in researching advanced search resources for this post, I performed the following search:

advanced search site:google.com

This returned results on the subject of advanced search published at google.com (a source that has proven to be reliable on the subject of search). You can also use -site: to exclude particular domains that you have come to find unreliable.

Here are a couple more resources for performing better online searches:

Obviously, advanced search techniques are no substitute for good judgment. But they can be helpful in wading through the internet tapioca.

Do you think about whether or not what you read online is reliable? What techniques do you use to determine the reliability of the “stuff” you find online? What sites/sources do you find particularly trustworthy online? Which are particularly untrustworthy?

Gyi Tsakalakis helps lawyers earn meaningful attention online because that's where clients are looking. He tends to write about legal marketing technology. He misses coaching football and is happy to discuss various strategies and techniques of defensive front seven play.

The domain name portion of the URL is the only barrier to entry. The domain name (the portion of the URL that exists “between the dots” is like a street address – only one can exist because it is used to route information.

The domain name is also the place that confirms the websurfer’s “whereabouts” and identifies when some has been unknowingly re-directed to another website (e.g., phishing scams).

The domain name also provides credibility because the good, descriptive domain names both identify the expected content (for anyone who ‘clicks’ the link) and because it demonstrates that the owner was smart enough to acquire it first or successful enough to afford to buy ideal descriptive domains at elevating premium prices.